Maxim Gorky
(Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov)
1868-1936
Maxim Gorky is a Russian Soviet writer, poet, novelist, playwright, publicist and public figure, journalist. He was born on March 28, 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod under the name Alexey Maksimovich Peshkov. The first work of the writer was published in 1892. It was the story “Makar Chudra”. In 1897 Maxim Gorky began to publish in the magazines “Russian Thought”, “New Word” and “Severny Vestnik”. His short stories “Konovalov”, “Notch”, “Fair in Goltva”, “The Orlov Couple”, “Malva”, “Former People” and others have been published. In October, he began work on his first major work, the novel “Foma Gordeev”. In 1906 on the advice of doctors, he went to the Italian island of Capri, where he lived for 7 years. After returning in 1913, in 1921 he went abroad again. In the period from 1928 to 1933, he lived in Italy and then in the USSR. Maxim Gorky was nominated for the Nobel Prize five times. He had two children, a son Maxim and a daughter Ekaterina, who died at an early age. Among the main works of Maxim Gorky are: “The Life of Klim Samgin”, “Mother”, “Chelkash”, “At the Bottom”, “The Old Woman Izergil”, “The Song of the Petrel” and many others. On Povarskaya Street in Moscow there is a monument to Maxim Gorky in front of the Gorky Institute of World Literature (IMLI RAS). It was opened on January 11, 1956. The sculptor is Vera Mukhina, the architect is Alexander Zavarzin. Despite its similarity to the monument in Nizhny Novgorod, the monument on Povarskaya Street creates a more cozy impression due to its convenient location in a quiet courtyard against the background of an ancient Empire house. Standing on a low pedestal, the monument depicts Gorky in folk clothes, standing tall, and his coat seems to be blowing in the wind.
Address: Moscow, Povarskaya str., 25A, building 1
